Moshe Rabbeinu had many confrontations with Bnei Yisrael. There were times when the Jewish people complained, and even sinned. Although the commentaries point out that they were not always entirely at fault, nevertheless, we see that they were sometimes punished. That was why they didn’t go into Israel right away, as G-d had wanted, and that’s why the generation that came out of Egypt died in the desert, and so on.
After one of the most serious of these confrontations, the sin of the Golden Calf, HaShem said to Moshe Rabbeinu: “What do I need this for? What do I need this obstinate and stubborn nation for? I will destroy the entire Jewish people and I will start a new Jewish nation from you. Maybe this time they’ll be on a higher level.”
What did Moshe reply? “If you are planning to destroy the Jewish people then you can destroy me first: mecheyni na misifrecha — erase me from Your Book, the Torah.” Moshe put himself on the line for Bnei Yisrael. And he did this many times, not just once.
Most leaders are hungry for power, and that is their motivation for becoming leaders. People run for President, for Prime Minister. They try to show everybody how wonderful they are. They really want to be in office and once they are in office they won’t leave that office for anything. They don’t want to step down. They don’t have the best interests of the people in mind, but rather their own. Very often they want the prestige, the power, the salary and the status.
Moshe, by way of contrast, was a leader who didn’t want to be a leader, as we see from the very beginning of his career when he tried to refuse to accept upon himself the leadership of Bnei Yisrael. He had to be forced and coerced into becoming the leader, and once he became the leader, his own interests were always secondary and subordinate to the interests of Bnei Yisrael. They always came first. So when HaShem threatened to kill the entire Jewish People, and start a new nation which would be called Bnei Moshe and not Bnei Yisrael, Moshe said, “I won’t hear of that. If You do that then You may as well forget about me. I will not agree to that.”
(För mer av denna artikel besök: Chabad.org)
Vad kan detta lära oss? Moshe Rabbeinu förklarar det tydigt, vi som judisk folk är en enhet. På ytan kan konflikter uppstå, folk kan bli upprörda och arga, men på en djupare nivå när vi använder oss av våra “judiska glasögon” inser vi är som folk enade. Det judiska folket, som för 3.300 år sedan var samlade på Sinaiberget stod där som en enhet. På samma sätt, är det judiska inte heller likt när vi aktivt väljer att förändra det.
Vi hoppas att denna shabbes, som leder upp till Purim, får oss att inse detta – am echad ve lev echad.
Git helige shabbes unt freiliechen purim!
